


showmance

by katieelle



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Alternate Universe - Never Met, Alternate Universe - No Squip, Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Reality TV, eventual pinkberry, eventual richjake
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-22
Packaged: 2019-06-01 13:24:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 13,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15144032
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katieelle/pseuds/katieelle
Summary: Jeremy jokingly sent in an audition tape for a shitty reality TV show featuring 8 strangers and the fake drama that ensues when they spend a summer together in a beach house.He isn't expecting to get a call back, and he isn't expecting the showmance that develops between him and his co-star.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> whats up! im a fucking mess!

Jeremy glances over his application one last time before signing off at the bottom and handing it over to the receptionist at the counter. It’s the third application he’s filled out in that week alone, but he’s turned it countless over the past month or two. And he hasn’t heard back from a single one of them. The only reason he’s surviving is because his dad lent him some money when he moved to New York for college, but when that runs out, he’s a goner. 

On his way back to his apartment, he passes a run-down looking pizza shop on the corner of an alley with a cracked “help wanted” sign hanging in one of the dirty windows. He stops on the sidewalk, ignoring the people that shove him and mumble under their breath at him. God, there’s no way he got a degree in computer science to end up making pizzas all day. But then again, a job is a job, and he desperately needs the money. Swallowing his pride, he swings the door open and steps inside. 

Other than the large man with a scraggly beard standing behind the cash register, the place appears to be empty. Too late. The man spots him and now Jeremy can’t turn back. “Uh, hi,” he stutters, straightening his back and uncrossing his arms. “I saw your help wanted sign.” 

The man folds his arms down on the counter and glares at him, with his furry white eyebrows coming together and forming a uni-brow.  _ Now seems like a good time to run,  _ Jeremy thinks. “So you think you can handle the pizza?” the man asks in an obviously fake, over-dramatic Italian accent. 

“I -- alright, yeah. I think I can handle the pizza,” he says, tripping over his words. He doesn’t even know what it means to be able to ‘handle the pizza,’ but if that’s what’s going to get him the job, he’ll play along. 

“Yeah, yeah,” the man says. “But do you think...the  _ pizza  _ can handle  _ you?” _

Jeremy blinks at him, his mind scrambling for something to say. Is he supposed to say yes? Is this a trick question? Where the  _ fuck  _ is he? The man lets out a deep laugh that echoes throughout the room. “You should see your face, kid, you look  _ terrified.” _

He is stunned, frozen in shock. He probably  _ looks  _ terrified because he  _ is  _ terrified. There’s a buzzing in the pocket of his jeans and he silently thanks God for getting him out of that unreal situation. “S-sorry, I gotta take this,” he says, and quickly backs out of the restaurant. He doesn’t recognize the number that’s calling and it says it’s from California. It’s probably just some spam message, but he doesn’t have anything better to do with his time, so he answers it anyway. 

“Hi,” he says awkwardly when he picks up. 

“Hello, is this Jeremy Heere?”

The woman on the other end knows his full name, so it must be more than a spam message. Maybe it’s someone finally calling back about an application he put it? But why would it be a call from California, then? “Yes, who is this?” 

“This is Cara Ross,” she says, as if Jeremy’s supposed to know who the fuck that is. Could it possibly be a wrong call? “From the agency with The Beach House.” 

The what? “I’m sorry, I think you have the--” he cuts himself off when it hits him. “Oh! Oh wait! Yeah, hi. This is Jeremy.” 

It was something stupid he did a while ago, so stupid that he had completely forgotten about it. It had started with an ad he saw on TV, saying that an up-and-coming reality show was open to auditions. Jeremy had filmed his audition tape mostly as a joke, but since he was tipsy on cheap wine that night and bored and alone, he ended up emailing the video to the network anyways. He never expected it to go anywhere. 

“Great! I’m calling you in regards to your audition tape.” Jeremy holds his breath, trying not get his hopes up too soon. There’s still a chance they that only called to say he wasn’t chosen. “Our team has reviewed your audition, and we think you’d make a great addition to our cast!”

It  _ has  _ to be a mix-up. Maybe a different Jeremy Heere had auditioned, one with the beach body and cocky personality that they were looking for. “Are -- are you sure?” he stutters. When the ad ran on TV, it mentioned the pay that the cast would receive in installments after the show ended. Jeremy couldn’t remember how much exactly the pay was, but he knew it was a lot, otherwise he would have never bothered with the audition. 

God, it was just  _ too perfect.  _ Sure, he’d have to spend the summer in a drama-infused beach house with 7 strangers, fake romances, and staged arguments, but he’d have enough money to last him until he figured out what the fuck he wanted to do with his life. “Well, yes, we are sure, if you’re still interested.” 

“Yes, still interested. Definitely still interested,” he blurts, causing the woman, Cara, to chuckle. “Uh, what, what do I have to do?” 

“The next step is to have you flown out to our studio in California. You’ll meet the rest of the cast, we’ll talk about what the filming schedule will look like, how you will be paid, and you’ll need to sign some contracts to ensure that you’re not going to bail on us. If you’re still interested after all of that, we can begin filming ASAP.”

It was a lot to take in, a lot to consider. It would be in his best interest to take some time to think about it, but he's too focused on the money and  _ flying to California  _ to form rational thoughts. “Yeah, yeah, that sounds...great. That sounds great.” 

“Fantastic!” Cara says. Her voice is a bit too cheery for Jeremy’s liking, but at least she's better than beard-man from that sketchy pizza place. “The expense of the plane ticket and your hotel will be covered by us, so no need to worry about that. Let me just check my calendar…” she trailed off and Jeremy could hear the faint sound of pages turning. “Right. Your flight will be on May 28th, so about a month from now. If everything goes to plan, you’ll be in the house by the first and the first episode will air the ninth. How does that sound?” 

“Sounds like...a lot is happening very quickly,” Jeremy says. 

“Yes, you’re right, it’s going very fast. Obviously, we can’t air a show like this in real time, but we want it to be as close as we can get.” She pauses, and the shuffling sound of papers returns. “Oh, wait a minute.” 

“What is it?” Jeremy asks, concerned. He feels his heart drop down to his feet. She probably changed her mind after actually talking to him and realizing that he’s not the kind of person they want on their show. “Is something wrong?”

“No, not at all,” she laughs. “It’s just that we have another possible cast member who will be on the same flight as you. He’s from New Jersey, and you’re from New York, correct?”

“I’m from New Jersey, too!” Jeremy says, sounding way too excited. “I mean, I just recently moved to New York, but I’m from New Jersey.” 

“That’s great! If you meet him before the rest of the cast, that could open some new possibilities for the show…” she trails off again, like she's already coming up with some crazy, unbelievable backstory for Jeremy and the mystery guy. “Anyways, I’ll email you your flight information and any other news that comes up. I’ll see you in May!”

“Great, thanks, bye,” Jeremy starts to say, but she's already hanging up. 

Did that  _ really  _ just happen to him? He stares down at his phone, dumbfounded. Jeremy Heere, future reality TV show star. It doesn't sound real, the idea of him being on TV, of millions of people watching him. On other hand, it was just reality TV, people would forget about him as soon as the season was over. All he ha to do is play along with whatever story they give him and hang out on the beach in sunny California. Then, he’d be able to get his cash and he’d be set for a while. 

Really, there was no possible way this could go wrong. 

-

Using the last of his dad’s loan money, Jeremy pays his rent for the months that he’ll be gone. He does't have too many clothes, but he packs what he has, shoving everything into a suitcase and one carry-on bag. The email he received from Cara a few weeks before included a copy of his plane ticket, the address of his hotel, and the address of their studio where he was supposed to meet everyone else the day after he arrived. Jeremy had never been very organized, and he's constantly stressed out that he's missing something or he's going to miss his flight or everyone there will hate him and he's making the biggest mistake of his life. 

Instead of dwelling on possible problems that aren't even problems yet, he keeps reminding himself of all of the money he'll get once the summer was over. It would all be worth it. He just has to stay calm.

His flight was set to leave at 8 in the morning. He shows up at the airport at 5. 

He had never flown before, so beforehand, he had spent hours online reading about what the fuck he was supposed to do when he got there. It's like a goddamn maze, flooded with people and lines and screens displaying flights and the times they were leaving. He goes through security, which is a whole mess in itself because he's shaking the whole time, terrified that for some reason he's going to set off an alarm and he's going to be taken away by guards. It goes smoothly, though, and even his luggage is deemed safe. He watches it roll down a conveyor belt, then he goes to pick up his boarding pass. 

The worst of it is over and he just has to wait at the gate for his plane to arrive. It's a lot easier than he expected, so  _ maybe  _ he was a little stressed out over nothing. 

He remembers Cara saying that someone on his flight would also be on the show, so while he waits, he plays a game of trying to figure out who it could be. The age range they were looking for was 21-30, so that rules out the sleeping old woman and the man reading the newspaper. It also rules out a few families he saw with screaming children. If he was remembering right, Cara said the other person was a he, so that rules out the business lady listening to music and typing on a Macbook. 

There’s a guy with a blonde man-bun texting erratically and Jeremy  _ prays  _ that that’s not the guy. Spending a month with the type of guy who wore man-buns sounded like actual hell. He looks up from his phone for a few moments, notices Jeremy staring, and flips him the middle finger. Jeremy quickly goes back to staring at the floor. 

At 7:48, a man in a red sweatshirt comes rushing in to the gate area and takes a seat, out of breath. He already seems a lot nicer than man-bun dude and all he did so far was sit down. He takes out what looks like a magazine and starts browsing through the pages, but he can't tell what it's about. Oh well. 

By the time he has to board his plane, he's shaking again. His seat is by the window and he is sure most people would be excited to have that seat, but it only makes him feel sick. They aren't even flying yet and looking out the window makes his stomach turn. It's going to be a long seven hours. 

The same guy from before, the one with the red sweatshirt, sits down next to him. He doesn't seem like the type to be on a reality show about a bunch of 20-somethings living in a beach house together, but then again, neither does Jeremy. “First time flying?” the guy asks. Jeremy doesn't even realize his shaking had become that visible. 

“Uh, yeah. I’m -- I’m pretty nervous, y’know,” Jeremy stutters, eyes focused on his feet. Maybe it isn't a good idea to be looking out the window. “We aren’t even flying yet and I already feel sick, so sorry in advance if I throw up all over you.” 

_ Why did he say that?  _ He's so  fucking awkward it physically hurts. “You’ll be fine. Going up is the worst, but after that it’s fine.” Part of Jeremy wishes the small talk would end, part of him wishes it would continue so he has something to focus on instead of the flight itself. “What are you headed to California for? It’s a long way from home.”

Jeremy knows he's going to sound insane when he explains it, but maybe it's his chance to find out if this really is the guy that Cara had mentioned. “This is going to sound weird, but I got on this odd reality show, so I’m going out there for the summer to--”

“No way!” sweatshirt guy says. “Me too! The Beach House, right? That’s crazy, what a weird coincidence!” 

So at least it wasn’t man-bun guy. “I mostly auditioned as a joke,” Jeremy starts to explain. “But I actually got a call back, and with how much money they’re paying? I had to do it.” 

“Same deal here. I dropped out of high school and I can’t get a decent job, so this was my chance to actually have some money saved.”

“You dropped out?” The other guy gives him a weird look, and Jeremy hurriedly backpedals. “No, I mean, not that I’m judging you. Just curious.” 

“I dont -- I don’t really want to talk about it.”  _ Okay.  _ A tense air surrounds them and Jeremy impatiently waits for him to say something that would break the awkward cloud that had settled over them. “I’m Michael, by the way.”

Michael reaches out to shake his hand. “Oh, please no, my hands are sweaty right now cause I’m so nervous and I don’t want you to have to suffer through that.”  _ Goddammit,  _ why doesn't he have the ability to think about things before he says them like a normal fucking person? 

Michael laughs awkwardly, probably because he has no idea what he's supposed to say to that. 

“Jeremy, by the way,” Jeremy adds in, realizing that he forgot to say his name. 

The flight attendant comes over the intercom and gives the standard safety message. Then, “Ladies and gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts as were about to take off.” 

“Jesus Christ, fuck. Fuck me. What the fuck am I doing here?” Jeremy mutters to himself, forgetting that there was someone sitting  _ right next to him.  _

“Need me to hold your hand?” Michael jokes, showing off a pretty smile as he laughs.

  
“Actually,  _ yes,”  _ Jeremy blurts. 

“Wait, I was joking. Are you serious?”

“I need  _ something  _ to squeeze,” Jeremy says like it's obvious. Michael cautiously crosses his hand over the armrest and Jeremy grabs it immediately, squeezing down and clenching his teeth as the plane takes off. 

It's the weirdest sensation ever, unlike anything he had ever experienced. It's like going down the biggest hill of a rollercoaster, but it's ten times more intense and instead of going down they're going up. He keeps his eyes held shut tightly, refusing to look out the window. He's sure if he looks down he actually will throw up on Michael. 

“You’re going to cut off my circulation,” Michael warns, and Jeremy eases up his grip a little bit until they're moving flat and smoothly. “Hey! You did it!” Michael congratulates.

Now that his stomach isn't churning, Jeremy takes a sneaky glance out of his window, instantly amazed by the view of the clouds and the world below. His body is still shaking involuntarily, but at least he doesn't feel like he's going to vomit anymore. 

“Hey, uh, are you going to keep holding my hand?”

Jeremy looks at Michael, then down at their hands, then back at Michael. “Oh, shit, sorry,” he says, shrugging it off. He releases his death grip on Michael’s hand and stares straight ahead, trying to hide the blush that he knows is showing up on his cheeks. He grabs his phone and his headphones, navigating to the playlist that he specifically made for the flight. 

About five minutes down, another six hours and fifty-five minutes to go. 


	2. Chapter 2

They finally landed late at night. Jeremy double-checked his email from Cara, where he found the name of the hotel he was supposed to be staying at and where he needed to be the next day for the show’s first meeting with the full cast. “Hey, Michael,” Jeremy said as he started following him to baggage claim. At least someone knew where they were going. “Do you have the email for what hotel you’re staying at?”

Michael stopped and pulled his phone out, tapping a few times around the screen. “Uh, yeah. Says I’m staying at the Sandy Inn.”

“Me too.” Perfect. Jeremy was shit with directions and he didn’t want to get in a taxi or Uber alone in an unfamiliar city. He could just follow Michael there and then he wouldn’t have to worry about getting lost. “Do you wanna just...go there together? Like the buddy system.”

“Uh, yeah, sure,” Michael agreed, although he didn’t sound too enthusiastic. They got their luggage and weaved their way through the crowded airport until they made it outside, where it was much warmer than Jeremy expected, especially for night. He couldn’t remember the last time he was at the beach, so staying in a beach house for the summer was starting to sound like a pretty nice idea, even if he did have to be on TV for a lot of it.

Jeremy looked at the map on his phone and tried to figure out which way to go in direction of the hotel, but it was useless. He truly had no sense of direction. “Do you know where we’re supposed to go?” Jeremy asked Michael, who was also studying the map on his phone very intensely.

“It’s not too far. We could just walk so we don’t waste money on a taxi.”

Jeremy’s suitcase was pretty heavy, despite not having too many clothes, but he agreed anyways, nodding his head and letting Michael lead the way. While Michael glanced back and forth between the roads on his map and the actual roads, Jeremy took in the view. Palm trees in every yard, beach stores covered in signs suspiciously offering 50% off the whole store, and surf shops that tempted Jeremy to learn to surf. That actually wasn’t a bad idea, learning how to surf. It’d give him something to do over the summer so he wouldn’t be trapped in the house all day, and it meant being on the show less because they couldn’t film him in the house if he was outside. He made a mental note.

The more they walked, the heavier Jeremy’s suitcase started to feel. He couldn’t tell if his suitcase really was that abnormally heavy or if he was just out of shape. The latter was much more likely. Michael must have caught on to Jeremy’s struggling. “Is that too heavy for you?” he teased.

“Y-yeah,” Jeremy stammered, trying to catch his breath. Michael seemed to be dragging his alone pretty effortlessly, while still navigating to the hotel. “You’re strong,” he commented casually. Jeremy could see his muscles flexing as he dragged the suitcase behind him. It wasn’t like he was attracted to those muscles or anything, just jealous. That was why he kept staring.

Michael looked back and shrugged. “Or my suitcase is just light.” Just take the fucking compliment, Jeremy thought. He glanced up at the flashy signs around them, advertising bars and stores, and saw one that read Sandy Inn. He was getting pretty tired, even after sleeping on the plane.

“I guess this is it,” Jeremy said, pointing up at the building. It wasn’t beachfront or anything, but he could tell they were pretty close to the beach based on the salty smell and the multitude of beach stores surrounding them. They each checked in and found out that their rooms were both on the third floor, across the hall from each other.

So they rode in the elevator together. Other than them, it was empty, so Jeremy couldn’t quite pinpoint why it felt so awkward between them. Maybe it was just because they still barely knew each other and neither of them knew what to say, but the entire ride up to their floor was silence. Jeremy stared at the floor, but every once in a while, he’d glance up at Michael and he’d glance back and they’d catch eyes for a few seconds before looking back down at the floor.

Jeremy was grateful when the elevator stopped and they both stepped out, walking down the hall to their respective rooms. “G-goodnight,” Jeremy stuttered, looking at Michael from across the hall as he struggled to scan his room key the right way. “See you tomorrow, I guess.”

“Um, actually,” Michael started to say, turning around so his back was leaning against the door. “I was thinking about going out and picking up a pizza somewhere. We could share it, I can’t eat a whole pizza by myself.”

As much as Jeremy would have liked some pizza, he wasn’t sure he could handle another second of awkward, tense silence with Michael. “Thanks, but I’m actually pretty tired…” Jeremy said. Thinking that maybe being exhausted from the flight was one of the reasons they weren’t talking much, he quickly added, “But maybe we could stop for some pizza tomorrow before the show meeting.”

“Yeah, sounds good,” Michael agreed. He finally got his key to work and the door swung open. “Goodnight then,” he said before closing the door behind him.

Jeremy went into his own room and started looking around. There was a tiny bathroom, a bed, and a kitchen with a mini-fridge. It was pretty lonely in there, but he figured he wouldn’t be spending much time in his hotel room anyways. As soon as everyone on the show met and got their contracts signed and everything, they’d be moving into the house they were staying in.

As Jeremy laid in bed, trying to fall asleep, he wondered what everyone else on the show would be like. It was a reality show, so he expected everyone to be over-the-top and getting into arguments about every little thing. And as much as he wanted to avoid those people, he’d have to step in to the drama too if he wanted to be able to cash in at the end of the season. Whatever.

He’d worry about that when the time came.

-

When Jeremy woke up, the first thing he did was check his phone. It was already 11 o’clock, and the meeting was at 1. How had he slept in so late? Why didn’t he set a fucking alarm? He was supposed to be getting pizza with Michael, he remembered. He scrambled over to his suitcase, which he abandoned by the door as soon as he got to his room, and dug out a striped t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Maybe he was was supposed to be dressed a bit more professionally for the meeting, but he didn’t really have any other clothes.

He didn’t bother going into the bathroom to change, he just stripped in the middle of his room and threw the new clothes on. He rushed into the bathroom to brush his teeth, then hurried over to Michael’s room. What if Michael already left? Goddammit, he probably thought Jeremy ditched him or something.

He frantically knocked on the door, and when he didn’t get an answer right away, he knocked again. He was about to give up, but then the door opened up and Michael appeared in the doorway with messy hair and no glasses. Jeremy took a deep breath. “Oh, hey,” he breathed out. “Pizza.”

“Right, pizza,” Michael smiled, taking a step back and motioning for Jeremy to come inside. “I just have to fix my hair and get my glasses, then we can leave.”

Jeremy awkwardly followed Michael to the bathroom and watched him brush out his hair. “You should leave it how it is,”  
Jeremy suggested.

“You mean I should leave it looking like I just crawled out of bed?”

“Yes?” Jeremy answered, unsure. Michael laughed and went back to looking in the mirror as he combed through the dark strands. It was kind of...pretty, in a way. Yeah. Michael had pretty hair. “I was being serious,” Jeremy added. “It looked pretty.”

“Did you just call me pretty?” Michael asked.

“No, I called your hair pretty,” Jeremy responded quickly. “Not that you aren’t pretty, though. I mean, I’m not like, calling you pretty or anything.” Jeremy was out of breath from trying to explain himself and Michael was staring at him like he was an insane person. He did sound like an insane person. “I’m not into guys,” Jeremy finished off.

“Okay, wow,” Michael said. “That was...a lot. And I’m not sure what to say to all of that.”

“Let’s just go get the pizza.”

Michael slipped his glasses on and they left.

They walked down the street from the hotel, and now that it was daytime, Jeremy could see things a little more clearly. There were also a lot more people crowding the sidewalks and filtering in and out of the stores. He also noticed a little ice cream parlor painted in bright colors that really drew him in, he’d have to go there at some point over the summer.

They didn’t have to walk too far to find a pizza place that looked just about as sketchy as many of the ones in New York. There was faint Italian music playing over the shitty speakers and the tables looked like they were about to fall apart. The two slid into a booth, across from each other, and started glancing over the menus.

“I think I’m just going to get a slice of cheese,” Jeremy said. “What about you?”

“Pepperoni,” Michael answered. At least he didn’t say pineapple. The waitress came over and took their orders, told them it would only be a few minutes, then disappeared somewhere back in the kitchen.

“Are you excited?” Jeremy asked, trying to make conversation. The Italian music was starting to hurt his ears.

“For the pizza?”

“N-no,” Jeremy stuttered, trying to hold back a laugh. “For the show.”

“Oh!” Michael hummed. “I’m excited for the money and getting to be on the beach. Not excited about having to spend the summer with strangers and being on TV.

“Same here,” Jeremy said. “I mean, at least I have you. That way I know not everyone there is going to be annoying.” Michael nodded in agreement. “And I was thinking about trying to learn to surf. It would keep me busy over the summer.”

“You’re not scared of sharks?” Michael asked.

Jeremy forgot about sharks. “Well, I guess I am, but maybe I won’t see any sharks. God, I hope I don’t see any sharks.” Okay, great. Just another thing he had to add to his list of things to worry about. Fucking sharks.

“My only goal is to build the best sandcastle. If I’m going to be on the beach all summer and I don’t get to build a cool sandcastle, I’m going to lose it.”

Surfing seemed a lot more exciting than building sandcastles, but he nodded like he agreed anyways. “I don’t know how long this money we’re getting is going to last. I just finished up college and I still don’t know what I want to do and no one would hire me.”

“At least you have a college degree. All I’ve got is my GED.”

Oh yeah. Jeremy suddenly remembered back on the plane Michael saying he had dropped out of high school. He said he didn’t want to talk about why, but Jeremy was feeling pretty curious. “I know you said you didn’t want to talk about it, and you don’t have to, but I’m still wondering why you dropped out.”

Michael took a deep breath and stared at a spot on the table, refusing to meet Jeremy’s eyes.

“Sorry. Didn’t mean to bring up bad memories or anything,” Jeremy quickly apologized.

“No, it’s okay,” Michael said, finally looking up again. “I dropped out because when I came out...as gay, I mean...a lot of people just stopped talking to me I guess. And you know, I tried to not let that kind of stuff get to me, but I was really lonely. And my grades started going down, I lost pretty much all of my motivation. I was scared to go to school most days, so I stayed home a lot until I just gave up and stopped going completely.”

“Oh shit, sorry,” Jeremy said. “That’s...really fucked up. I’m really sorry you had to go through that.”

There was another heavy silence between them, but it wasn’t awkward the way it was awkward in the elevator. It was a weird moment of understanding between the two of them where they just...made sense to each other. They didn’t have to say anything, the silence was enough.

The silence was broken when their waitress returned with their pizza, which actually looked pretty delicious despite how sketchy the place looked from the outside.

As they ate their pizza and sipped diet sodas, they didn’t say much.

-

Michael had insisted that they get an Uber to the office building there they were meeting the rest of the cast and crew because it was apparently too far to walk without being late. The whole way there, Jeremy couldn’t stop trying to imagine what the other people would be like. He pictured a small-town girl from maybe...Arkansas. A high school athlete who was obsessed with basketball but never made it anywhere in the real world. A makeup artist from Florida with a huge personality who complained about everything.

Maybe the producers would lead him down the road of a romance with one of the quiet girls and he’d have to pretend to get caught kissing her, even though he knew the cameras were there the whole time. Or maybe he’d have to act as the calm and reserved one who tried to settle down fights in the house, but no one ever listened to him. None of the options sounded ideal, but it was better than being out of work in New York and on the verge of becoming homeless.

The Uber stopped just in front of a tall building with way too many windows. They walked through the front doors and up to the front desk, where Jeremy let Michael do all of the talking. They explained they were there for the show with Cara Ross, and the receptionist smiled and told them which room to go to.

Walking into that room was possibly one of the worst things that had ever happened to Jeremy. He and Michael were the last ones there, meaning they had to walk into a room of people sitting around an oval desk staring at them in silence. There were only two seats left, right next to each other, so Jeremy and Michael sat down. As soon as they were seated, a woman who Jeremy assumed was Cara started to speak. “So, that’s everyone then?” She glanced around the room at everyone and wrote something down on her paper. “So that makes you Jeremy and Michael?” They nodded, and she started writing again.

“Alright, we would like to start off by having everyone introduce themselves. This way, you can get an idea of what your new cast mates are like and we can get an idea of the kind of chemistry you might have with the others. Would anyone like to start?”

A younger looking girl sitting across from Jeremy stood up. She was dressed up, with a skirt and a nice blouse, and her hair was dark and cut to her shoulders. “Hi everyone! My name is Christine and I’m from Massachusetts. Not to brag, but I am a broadway actress.”

“Cool, what shows are you in?” a voice asked from across the room, a short guy wearing a shirt with the sleeves cut off.

“Um, technically,” the girl, Christine, hesitated. “I’m not in any yet. But I will be after this show kickstarts my career.”

Everyone sort of looked at each other in silence and Christine quietly sat back down. One of the producers was listening carefully to her and taking down notes about everything she said.

The short guy who spoke before stood up. “So, I’m Rich. Not money rich, I mean my name is Rich.” Cara laughed obnoxiously loud at that. “I’m from Arizona and I’m here because I’m bored. Sometimes you just need a change, amirite?” No one responded. “Right.”

“Thank you, Rich,” Cara intervened. “Okay, who’s next?”

A girl with bouncy brown curls stood up. “I’m Chloe, from Florida. I’m a lifeguard, but I volunteer part time at an animal shelter. I came here because I’ve always wanted to surf the waves over here and I felt like this was my only chance.” Oh, good. Maybe she could teach Jeremy how to surf and simultaneously save him from any shark attacks.

The girl next to her stood up as soon as she finished. She had long blonde hair which was worn in two braids. “My name’s Brooke, I’m from Washington. I’m a baker at the bakery my family owns and I came here because I wanted to get away from them.”

“Oh, same,” another guy said, standing up. His hair was gelled up in the front and he looked like the type of jock that would have made fun of Jeremy in high school. “My parents suck. But anyways, I’m Jake. I come from Chicago. I wanted to be a professional basketball player, but that didn’t really work out.” Jesus Christ, Jeremy’s visions were coming true.

There was one girl left, who had remained quiet for everyone else’s speeches. She had long dark hair and winged eyeliner. “I’m Jenna from Colorado. I write a blog about celebrity news and that kind of stuff. I’m actually here as a part of some research I’m doing for my blog.”

When she sat down, Jeremy and Michael looked over at each other. They were the only two left who had to speak. Michael stood up before Jeremy and faced the crowd of people that wasn’t really much of a crowd at all, but it definitely felt that way. Jeremy noticed Michael was shaking a little bit, so he reached up and held his hand, remembering what had happened on the flight there. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Cara lean over and whisper something to a producer, then write it down.

“My name is Michael. I’m from New Jersey and I’m going to be honest, I’m here because I dropped out of high school and couldn’t find a job anywhere, so I came for the extra money.”

No one said anything. Michael sat back down, eyes focused on the oval table. Jeremy stood up next, the last person to go. “I’m Jeremy and I’m from New York. I just recently finished up college but I don’t know yet what I want to do, so I ended up here.”

Jeremy sat back down next to Michael and he glanced around the room. So these were the people he was going to be spending his summer with. Everyone seemed relatively normal, so it definitely could have been worse.

“Okay, thank you everyone. I’m going to have Chris here take everyone to the room across the hall where we have all of our documents and contracts stored so we can get everyone signed and ready to do.” Everyone stood and started filing out of the room, following the man who was apparently Chris, but Cara and one of the other producers stopped Michael and Jeremy before they could leave. “Can I talk to you two for a few minutes?”

Michael and Jeremy looked at each other. Jeremy’s first thought was that he was too boring and he was getting kicked off of the show.

“You are the two that were on the same plane, correct?” The two nodded, still suspicious. “Right, so you’ve met before today?”

“Yeah, we met on the plane and we actually went out for pizza before we came here,” Jeremy explained.

“That’s great!” Cara exclaimed. “We couldn’t help but notice that the chemistry you two have is unbelievable. We were thinking up some ideas for the show, and we thought a forbidden romance between you two could be really interesting.”

“Why is it forbidden?” Michael questioned.

“Ooh! Maybe Michael has really religious parents that have disowned him,” she suggested casually. “And throughout the show, they see you on screen sharing ‘hidden’ kisses with Jeremy and they just keep calling you, getting angrier and angrier!”

“I have two really supportive lesbian moms.”

“Um, okay, so maybe Jeremy has the homophobic parents.”

“I’m not even gay.”

Cara crossed her arms and sighed. “Come on, work with me here! This is our first season, we have to start with a bang.”

“I’m up for the showmance thing, just...maybe let’s not have it be forbidden,” Michael suggested, looking over to Jeremy for approval. If Jeremy was going to be involved in a showmance, he expected it to be with one of his female cast mates, like Christine or maybe even Brooke. But he didn’t have much of a problem being in a fake relationship with Michael. All he had to do was sneak a few kisses when no one was supposed to be looking, cuddle up with him in the common room a few times, and it would look believable enough for a shitty reality show.

“Yeah, okay. I’m up for that.”

Cara smiled and clapped, pulling Jeremy, Michael, and even the producer in for an awkward group hug. “This show is going to be a hit!”


	3. Chapter 3

The beach house was, just as Jeremy had expected, beautiful. It had a modern look with a lot of windows and balconies and a pool that he couldn’t wait to swim in. There were four bedrooms, so two people would have to share each one, which Jeremy wasn’t too happy about but he’d just have to deal with it for the next few months. The best part though was that the house sat directly on the beach. The backdoor opened up to sand and waves crashing, so at least if things got messy on the show he’d have a place to go relax. 

On “moving in” day, as Cara kept calling it, the cast flooded into the house with their suitcases rolling behind them. For the most part, everyone seemed to be getting along pretty well for having just met each other, but Jeremy wasn’t any good at making conversation so he hung towards the back of the crowd as they entered their new home and waited for Cara to arrive. They had been told they’d be assigned a room and shown around the house, so everyone was pretty anxious to see what the huge house had to offer. 

“Um, do you think Cara will put is in a room together?” Jeremy asked, turning to Michael. He was the only person he knew, so he was the only person he could talk to, and he didn’t want to stand around silently while everyone else was having a conversation. 

“I mean, that would make sense, wouldn’t it?” Michael replied. “We’re endgame, I guess, so she probably wants us to be all flirty on camera.” 

Jeremy was complete shit at flirting, but maybe it would be easier if he knew it wasn’t real and he knew that Michael was supposed to flirt back. 

Everyone immediately shut up when Cara came into the room, dressed in a pantsuit and carrying a clipboard. She had her dark hair tied back in a bun and dark circles under her eyes that contrasted with the rest of her professional look. “Okay, everyone, we’ve got to get filming started soon if we want to have an episode ready for Saturday. Before you all get to your rooms and start unpacking, the intro to the show is complete if anyone wants to see it.”

A few days back, the camera crew filmed a few clips of them doing various things throughout the house just so the intro would be ready for when they started actually filming. Cara played the video from her phone on the TV and the screen lit up with pictures of palm trees waving that fell to the sides and revealed “The Beach House” in fancy calligraphy. It was awful and cheesy and just the kind of the thing the general public would eat up. 

Chloe’s clip showed up first, a video of her running across the beach in a bikini while carrying a surfboard. A bikini definitely didn’t seem like the kind of attire you’d want to wear while surfing, but at least the clip would draw in the attention of anyone who was attracted to girls. Chloe really was beautiful, and it seemed like she didn’t mind being the center of attention because she was smirking at herself the whole time she was on the screen. Her name rolled across the screen in the same lettering as the title as horrible beach music played in the background. 

The rest of the introductions were done in the same way, with the actor’s name showing up as they did something that the producers deemed as cool either in slow motion or with a dramatic sunset in the background. Jake was seen playing a game of volleyball with Rich, shirtless, wearing just a pair of swim trunks. Then Rich’s title card had him sneaking food out of the fridge in the middle of night, and the camera panned to Christine who was watching him with the most over-dramatically annoyed face Jeremy had ever seen. It seemed pretty fitting for both of them. 

There was a clip where Brooke was banging violently on a door, and the camera switched to show Jenna on the other side, holding a phone to her ear in one hand and desperately trying to keep the door shut with the other. Jeremy assumed that was supposed to be a preview to all of the crazy drama that was going to happen on the show, but it really didn’t make a whole lot of sense when he thought about it for too long. Not like the people who watched this bullshit were going to be thinking about it too hard, anyways. 

Then there was Jeremy, sitting on a towel in the sand and sipping on a martini while watching Michael from afar, who was joining in on Rich and Jake’s volleyball game. Yeah, that seemed about right. 

“Sooo,” Cara hummed as the intro wrapped up. “What are your thoughts?” 

“I mean, I’d watch it,” Jenna said. A few people nodded their heads in agreement and Jeremy followed along. 

“I think Chloe looked pretty hot,” Brooke added in. 

“Sweet, thanks,” Chloe said with a smile, reaching over to high-five Brooke. 

“I have one issue,” Rich said slowly, and everyone turned to face him, prepared to hear his bad news. “When I open the fridge to sneak some food out, there’s no food in the fridge. It’s literally empty.” 

“What? Really?” Cara asked in disbelief. She played back that part, and sure enough, Rich was right. He was foraging for food in a food-less fridge. “Oh, goddammit. Wade was filming that part, he should have noticed. Wade? Wade?!” she called out into the house, but Wade didn’t respond. “Whatever. We’ll leave it. No one’s gonna notice.” 

Rich was unconvinced, shrugging, but he mumbled, “You got it, boss.” 

“Alright, we’d like to start filming ASAP, but I need to give you some time to unpack your things, settle in, and get to know everyone a little more. So I have the room situation here…” she flipped through a few papers on her clipboard until she found the one she was looking for. “Here. Chloe and Jake are sharing a room, Brooke and Rich, Michael and Jenna, then Jeremy and Christine.” 

Everyone looked around for their new roommate, but Jeremy and Michael locked eyes, both confused. Jeremy looked at Cara, then Christine, then Cara, thinking maybe she had made a mistake with the room assignments. He was about to go ask her, but everyone was already finding their roommate and claiming a room and Cara looked too busy to bother her. It wasn’t like he was looking forward to sleeping next to Michael for the summer anyways, so he was okay with having Christine as a roommate.  _ Totally  _ wasn’t looking forward to sleeping next to Michael. 

“Hey new roommate,” he heard a quiet voice squeak from next to him. Christine, the girl who claimed to be a Broadway star even though she had never been in a Broadway production. She was cute, with short dark hair that fell a little past her shoulders. Jeremy found himself glancing up, watching Michael walk down the hall with Jenna next to him, rambling on and on about something. “Wanna try to get a room on one of the upper floors? It’ll probably be a nice view.” 

“Yeah, that sounds good,” he said, though hesitantly. He watched Michael disappear into the closest room, on the ground floor, meaning their rooms wouldn’t even be close to each other. That was okay. He was okay with that. He let Christine lead the way up to the top floor because he really didn’t care where the room was. 

“Oooh, this is nice,” Christine said, opening up one of the bedroom doors. She practically  _ squealed  _ when she opened up the curtains and saw the view. “It’s so beautiful!” And to be fair, it was a really nice view, with the blue ocean not too far away. He was sure they’d even be able to hear the sounds of the waves when they slept. 

“Yeah,” Jeremy agreed, coming off as standoffish without even realizing it. He started unpacking the small amount of clothes that he had, hanging up his nicer shirts in the closet and folding the rest to put in one of the two dressers. 

Christine sat down on the bed, her expression shifting from excited to dejected. “If you don’t want to be my roommate, that’s okay. I know I can be kind of overdramatic, so we can ask Cara to switch us with someone if you think it won’t work.” 

“No, no no no,” Jeremy said, quickly trying to backpedal. “I’m just confused, that’s all. Because Cara said she wanted me and Michael to have a...thing, so I just assumed we’d be sharing a room.”

“That’s weird. Cara said she wanted me and you to have a thing.”

That  _ was  _ weird. Maybe she changed her mind or something? That didn’t seem very likely, though. Cara was always pretty organized and seemed to know exactly what direction she wanted the show to go in. “Oh, really? Should we ask her?” 

Christine pondered the situation for a few moments, then was hit with a realization. “Oh! I think I get it. She probably wants us to have a love triangle.” 

“Maybe we should ask her, just to be sure,” Jeremy encouraged, and Christine agreed. Jeremy wasn’t too crazy about having to interrupt Cara’s work, but he also didn’t want to start filming and take the whole plot of the show in the complete opposite direction that she wanted it. They found her sitting at the expansive dining room table alone on behind a laptop, tapping frantically at the keyboard. “Hey, Cara, we just have a question.”

She looked up, blinking fast. “What is it? Is something wrong?”

“Not really,” Christine piped in. “But you told me I’m supposed to have a relationship with Jeremy, and you told Jeremy he’s supposed to have a relationship with Michael.” 

“Oh! I completely forgot to explain this to you guys.” Cara shut the lid of her laptop, giving them her full attention. “I was thinking it would be more interesting if we had Jeremy start out the show in a relationship with Christine, but unbeknownst to her, he’s sneaking over to Michael’s room, kissing him in the background of shots, just general flirting.” 

“But…” Jeremy started to say. “I don’t want to cheat on Christine. Or Michael.” 

“It’s not real. It’s a show, and in this show, we need more suspense and drama. It will keep viewers looking forward to see who you end up with, when Christine inevitably finds out, and it’ll make them feel smart for noticing you and Michael’s subtle flirting.” 

Jeremy looked to Christine, waiting for her input before agreeing to Cara’s idea. “Alright. Sure. If it takes me being fake cheated on to get people to watch, then I’ll do it.” 

“Great! I can’t wait to see where you guys take this and the reactions from everyone else in the house.” Cara opened up her laptop again and got back to typing. “Oh, by the way Jeremy, let Michael know about this when you see him next, okay?” 

Jeremy nodded, then headed back upstairs to his room with Christine. So he had to deal with two fake romances now, and to make matters worse, he was fake cheating on his fake girlfriend with his fake lover. Cool. Everyone who watched the show was going to think he was a total asshole. “Are you sure you’re okay with being fake cheated on?” Jeremy asked again, just to be sure. Christine seemed way too nice to genuinely upset her. 

“It’s no problem. I’m used to playing hard roles, I’ve been in a lot of school plays.” 

Jeremy wasn’t completely sure if school plays counted as hard roles, but he didn’t say that to her face. “You know, I used to always want to be in the school plays, but I was too scared to sign up.”

“Really? Why?” Christine asked. There was only one closet in the room so they had to share it, and he watched her hang up a white dress. She had a lot of clothes, at least a lot more than Jeremy did. 

“Surprisingly, I wasn’t exactly the coolest guy in school, and I just thought that signing up for a play would make that worse. And, y’know, I didn’t want people to think I was gay or something.” 

“Aw, I’m sorry. Plays are so fun, I wish you could’ve been in one without feeling like you had to act a certain way. Do you want a hug?”

“N-no, I think I’m--”

But she was already hugging him sweetly. She smelled like honey and her hair was soft against his cheek. “Uh, thanks,” he mumbled, when she pulled back. 

“No problem.” 

Maybe having Christine as a roommate would turn out to be a pretty good thing. 

 

-

 

The first day of filming was, to put it lightly, a hot mess. 

No one really knew what the fuck they were doing, and were kind of just winging it, but Cara kept telling them to keep up the good work. According to her, since they were all pretty clueless, whatever they did and their reactions to each other weren’t forced, so they would seem more believable to the audience. 

“I think she’s really sweet. And cute,” Jeremy said when the camera was on him and he was asked how he felt about Christine. He didn’t have to lie about that part and he was proud of how naturally the words flowed. “I think maybe I’ll ask her out sometime.” Now that part, that was a lie. Because as adorable as Christine was, he couldn’t see himself in a relationship with her. Not even for the sake of the show. 

Chloe and Brooke unsurprisingly took over about halfway through filming. They opened up one of the cabinets in the kitchen, found a stash of Grey Goose, and went fucking wild. “Found the vodka!” he heard Chloe yell from the kitchen, and he rushed into the room to see her and Brooke pouring shots for everyone with cameras filming them from multiple different angles. “You want one, cutie?” she asked, passing a glass to Christine. 

“Um, no thanks. I don’t drink,” she said innocently, pushing the glass back towards Chloe.

“Suit yourself,” Chloe said, then downed it like it was water. 

It wasn’t long before Rich and Jake caught wind of the commotion and came crashing downstairs. “Oh, shit, we get free vodka?” Rich asked, grabbing the nearest glass and swallowing it down. “Fuck, that was awful,” he mumbled, scrunching up his face. He held his glass out to Brooke, who was now in possession of the bottle. “Pour me another.” 

And in the mess of a situation that the show was quickly turning into, Jeremy glanced across the kitchen and saw Michael standing awkwardly near the counter, trying to reach in to grab a shot but he kept getting ignored. Jeremy wandered over, purposely bumping into his arm as he walked past. “Hey, stranger,” he joked. “How’s life living with Jenna?” 

Jeremy saw one of the cameras shift so it was on him and Michael, so he tried to ignore it, going on as if he and Michael were alone. “She doesn’t shut up. Like, ever,” Michael said. 

_ Flirt,  _ Jeremy told himself.  _ You’re supposed to be subtly flirting with him.  _ “Would you rather be living with me?” he asked, making sure his voice was loud and clear enough for one of the microphones to pick up. 

“Definitely,” he answered with a chuckle. Michael tried again to grab a shot of vodka, but Jake grabbed it before he could get to it. 

“Hey, Brooke,” Jeremy said, waving her over. “Can Michael get one?” 

“The more the merrier,” she laughed, grabbing an empty glass and filling it to the brim. She handed it over to Jeremy then walked back over to Chloe, taking the whole bottle with her. 

Jeremy held the glass up to Michael’s mouth and tilted it back, making sure his eyes were trained on his lips and his throat as he swallowed it. He was just playing the role of a different version of himself. He wasn’t  _ actually  _ attracted to Michael’s lips or his throat, it was just for the sake of the show. Michael wiped his mouth with the back of his hand once his glass was empty again and Jeremy slammed it down on the table. 

“Jeremy,” he heard a familiar squeaky voice call from across the room. Christine was headed for the door, wrapped up in a floral print bathing suit cover-up. “I’m going out for a swim. Wanna come with me?” 

He had two roles to play, he had to remind himself. “Sure, I’ll be there in a minute.” Jeremy ran upstairs to throw on his swimming trunks. There were no cameras up there because everyone else was downstairs. Swimming in a heated pool by the beach under the sunset seemed pretty romantic, right? And Cara did say she wanted to have him and Christine together at the start of the show, so maybe now was when they were supposed to start fake dating. 

He rushed back downstairs, passed the party, (he had to a double take, because was that Rich doing a handstand on the dining room table? Yes, Rich was doing a handstand on the dining room table) and found Christine already wading around in the otherwise empty pool. “Getting pretty crazy in there, huh?” he asked, throwing his legs over the edge before sliding in the rest of the way. 

“Too crazy for me,” Christine said. There was only one camera on them, so it wasn’t too overwhelming or anything. Plus, since he was Christine’s roommate, they were already friends so it wasn’t too hard talking to her. She laid on her back, letting the water carry her, and Jeremy did the same. “It’s much nicer out here, anyways. Isn’t the sunset so pretty?” 

“Yeah, it is. You’re prettier though.” God, it was so cheesy, he wanted to throw up in his mouth. 

“Aww, that’s so sweet,” Christine said through a laugh. “Not true, though.” 

“Oh, it isn’t? Maybe I can prove it to you if you meet me out here tomorrow night and we can watch the sunset.” 

“Are you asking me out on a date?” she asked, even though the already knew the answer. 

“Of course,” he answered, trying to sound confident. He already knew she was going to say yes, it was part of the show, but for some reason asking her out still made him nervous. Maybe it was just bringing up bad memories of getting rejected by every girl in high school.    
  
“I’d love to go on a date with you,” she said. 

Jake really had amazing timing, because just when Jeremy was running out of things to say, he was bursting through the doors, yelling “cannonball,” and jumping into the water between Jeremy and Christine fully clothed. The rest of the group followed soon after, laughing their drunk asses off at Jake. “Rich, you should come swimming with me,” Jake slurred from in the pool. 

Rich stripped off his shirt and shorts, then jumped in wearing just a pair of boxers. He landed practically on top of Jake, and they both laughed. “I wanna swim, too,” Chloe said, pouting. And suddenly, everyone was stripping down, jumping into the pool wearing underwear and bras as swimsuits. When Jeremy spotted Michael sliding in on the other side of the pool, Jeremy swam over. 

“Nice boxers,” Jeremy teased. They were weed print and definitely not nice at all. 

“Shut up,” Michael said. “Oh! Look! Everyone’s playing chicken!”

Jeremy turned around and saw a game of chicken in full swing -- Brooke on Chloe’s shoulders and Rich on Jake’s shoulders. Rich lost his balance and fell off when Brooke wasn’t even touching him, and the two girls congratulated each other. “I wanna play,” Jeremy said. “Stay still.” He climbed up on Michael’s shoulders, holding himself steady. “Hey, Christine, get on Jenna’s shoulders.”

Christine did, and she still looked short despite being on Jenna’s shoulders. “You got this, Christine. You got this. Just fucking deck him so we win.” 

“I can’t do that!” Christine protested. Jeremy reached out for Christine’s arm to give her a shove, but she was faster than him, reaching forward for his chest. 

“Jeremy, no! Watch out!” Michael warned him. Jeremy grabbed Christine’s wrist before she could get to him, and while she was unsuspecting, he tickled her side with his free hand and she fell off. “Hell yeah! We’re the kings of this game!”

Jeremy toppled off of Michael’s shoulders and gave him a double high five, thinking maybe he’d actually have a pretty good summer here. 

 

-

 

When night time rolled around and everyone was calmed down enough to go to sleep, Jeremy let one of the cameramen know he should stick around for a while longer because he had something planned. He ended up having to explain the whole situation with Michael and Christine, which was incredibly awkward, but at least Cara would be happy having her show work out the way she wanted it. 

He waited until he was sure everyone was asleep, and he crept downstairs to Michael’s room with the grumpy and bored cameraman following him. He quietly opened the door to his room and crept inside to Michael’s side of the bed. He gently brushed a hand against the side of Michael’s face. “Hey, wake up,” he whispered. 

Michael’s eyes fluttered open, and when he saw Jeremy, he grinned. He didn’t even know that the camera was there yet. He wasn’t grinning at Jeremy for the camera, he was just grinning at Jeremy because he was happy to see him. Fuck. “What is it?” Michael asked, his voice groggy. 

“Just wanted to tell you goodnight.” 

“You woke me up to tell me goodnight?” Michael asked. How was he so snarky when he was still half-asleep? 

“I forgot to say it before,” Jeremy reasoned, but Michael just raised his eyebrows at him in suspicion. “You’re ruining the moment,” Jeremy said. He took the plunge, leaning in to press a kiss to Michael’s cheek. And when he leaned back, they were both smiling at each other. It was too dark for the camera to pick up the blush on Jeremy’s cheeks, but it was definitely there, burning red. 

“Goodnight, Jer.”

And it wasn’t just for the camera.  


	4. Chapter 4

It was the day after the first episode aired and everyone was gathered in the common room before filming started to see what kind of response they got on Twitter. Surprisingly, the show actually did pretty well for its first episode, most likely due to how much Cara had promoted the show on every social media she possibly could. Jeremy was scrolling through the tag for the show, reading over all of the replies. It was a lot to take in, especially since most of the replies were about him, and they weren’t exactly positive. 

“Why is everyone calling me an asshole?” Jeremy asked the rest of the group. 

“Because you are an asshole,” Brooke answered, glancing up from her screen. “Everyone thinks you’re leading Christine and Michael on. You’re kind of playing them both.” 

Jeremy hummed and kept reading. It wasn’t like she was wrong, but he didn’t want to have that kind of reputation whenever he left the show. “Okay, another question,” Jeremy said. “What the fuck is shipping and why are people doing it to me and Michael?” 

“Shipping is when you want two people to be together,” Jenna explained. “Ship is short for relationship.” 

With that cleared up, a lot of the replies started making more sense. It seemed that there was already a lot of “shipping discourse,” as people were calling it, between him and Michael and him and Christine. Some people said he didn’t have chemistry with Christine, others said Christine didn’t deserve him and he was better off with Michael, and some said that he and Christine were both awkwardly cute together. He assumed this was the exact kind of response that Cara wanted for the show -- it got people talking, so more people would hear about it and want to watch. 

“This person ranked me as the hottest person on the show,” Michael said, laughing at his screen. 

“What? How? That spot  _ clearly  _ belongs to me,” Rich argued. “Whatever. People think I’m  _ relatable.”  _

_ “ _ I like this tweet,” Chloe said with a giggle. “This girl says my opening scene, the one where I’m running on the beach, caused her lesbian awakening.” 

“A lot of people are predicting a love triangle between me, Brooke, and Chloe,” Jake said. “Why do people love love triangles so much?” 

“I don’t know, but I think if that happened, I’d rather end up with Chloe,” Brooke said. Chloe smirked at her from across the room. Was there something between them that they weren’t showing on screen? 

Cara entered the room and everyone started slowly looking up from their phones and stopped talking to hear what she had to say. “Everyone keep up the great work! People seem to be loving all of the relationship drama already, and it’s only the first episode. I mean, imagine what we can pull off for the rest of the season. I’m not going to point anyone in a different direction just yet, keep doing what you’re doing and we’ll take it from there. Okay?” The group nodded, smiling at her and at each other. “We’re going to be filming today and throughout the rest of the week and...um, yeah. That’s all I got. Go wild.” 

“I’m going to make breakfast!” Christine said, already heading for the kitchen. 

“You’re going to make breakfast to feed eight people alone?” Jenna asked. 

“Well, yeah. That was my plan.” 

“I’ll help,” Jenna said, following her to the kitchen. 

Michael was sprawled out on an armchair on the other side of the room. Jeremy looked around for any signs of the cameras, but it looked like they hadn’t shown up yet or they had just followed Jenna and Christine to the kitchen. Normally, he’d want the cameras there to capture whatever he was going to say to Michael, but this time he didn’t want them to hear. “Hey, Michael,” he said, sitting down next to him and making him shove his legs over. “So, um, do you think I went too far? With the kiss the other night?”

“Nah, it’s reality TV. I think people are expecting things to move fast.” 

“Yeah, but I mean for you. Was it too far for you?” Jeremy asked. 

Michael looked at him like he had three heads, eyebrows scrunched up and his eyes squinted behind his glasses. “Why would it be? It’s not real, it’s just for the show.” Jeremy swallowed a lump in his throat. “Jeremy, it’s just for the show.”

“Yeah, yeah of course,” Jeremy stuttered through a laugh. What was he thinking? Of course it was just for the show. It was the same thing as two actors in a movie sharing a kiss. “For the show. Right.” When the camera crew arrived, Jeremy snuggled in closer to Michael and the rest of the cast pretended to be oblivious. For the show, Jeremy kept telling himself, for the show. 

-

Jeremy knew that at some point, Christine would have to “find out” about him and Michael, and she’d get to show off her acting skills with a lot of screaming and crying. He just didn’t know  _ when  _ that was supposed to happen. Was he supposed to keep dragging on this fake relationship to add to the pain when she inevitably caught him with Michael? Or was he supposed to stop it from going too far so they could move on to something else? 

He knew it was all just an act, but he didn’t know if he wanted to see Christine’s reaction when she realized he was “cheating” on her. She was too adorable, he wasn’t so sure he could handle seeing her break down like that even if it was just fake. 

He had to remind himself of where they were -- sitting by the pool, eating french toast and drinking orange juice -- and that he shouldn’t be worrying about something that wasn’t going to be happening soon anyway. There was a camera on them, but they both tried to ignore it and act as if they were just having a natural conversation. “You make really good french toast,” Jeremy said, trying to keep the conversation going. 

“Jenna actually made it,” Christine said, taking a sip of her juice. He heard a shout from the beach and looked over to see Rich getting knocked over by a wave. He really hoped one of the cameras caught that. While Jake was trying to offer Chloe seashells he found (she rejected each one, and he went back to the water to try to find a prettier one), Jenna and Brooke were building a sandcastle and Michael was alone on a towel in the sand. The sun was high and radiant, no clouds to get in the way, and the light bounced off of his skin. “Are you looking at Michael?” 

Jeremy’s shock wasn’t fake in the slightest. “What? No,” he blurted, breaking his eyes away from Michael with an awkward laugh. 

“Oh, because I am,” she said, catching Jeremy off guard. “The sun makes his skin look all glow-y. Don’t you think?” 

He knew exactly what she was doing. She was just building tension, giving the audience a reason to think her suspicions were growing. “I mean, yeah, I guess,” Jeremy shrugged.

“He’s nice,” she said plainly.

“He’s  _ really  _ nice,” Jeremy corrected, letting a small smirk cross his face. He hoped that made the final cut. 

One of the producers gestured for him to come inside, so he swallowed the last piece of his french toast and followed his directions. He already knew what was happening -- each of the characters had at least one scene like this in every episode. It was a time for him to be asked questions about what was happening in the house and he got to say his thoughts without any of the other cast members hearing him. 

He sat down on the couch and the producer sat down across from him, holding a script of things he was supposed to ask. “How has your first week been here at the house?” he asked. 

Jeremy thought for a moment, trying to come up with a way to make this as concise as possible. “It can be pretty annoying at times living with seven other people, but I think I’m starting to make some new friends.” 

“New friends? Such as Michael?” he questioned further. 

He wanted to make himself seem like a little bit less of an asshole, if he could even be redeemed at all. He didn’t want to be known as “the guy from that shitty reality show who cheated on two people.” “Yeah. Yeah, I really like Michael. He’s sweet, but Christine is too. None of us are really exclusive yet, so I’m still trying to figure out what I want.” 

“Really?” the producer asked. “Christine told us that you  _ are,  _ in fact, exclusive.” 

In an attempt to make himself seem like less of an asshole, he made himself seem like a bigger asshole. Had she really said that or were they just fucking with him? Because even though he just said that to make himself look better, it didn’t mean it was a lie. They really weren’t exclusive -- they went on, like, one “date” and hadn’t agreed yet that they were officially in a relationship. “Oh? Oh, she did?” Jeremy asked, genuinely clueless. “I mean, we haven’t really talked about it yet…” he trailed off. 

“Interesting,” he concluded, going down the list. Jeremy could feel himself getting red in the cheeks. “I spoke with Michael a little earlier, and he seems to think that you and Christine are just friends.” 

_ Goddammit,  _ why was literally  _ everyone  _ teaming up against him? This was not a part of the plan. “Like I said, we haven’t talked about it yet. I don’t know where they’re getting this information from, because it isn’t from me.” 

“Alright, I think that’s all we have for you,” he said, standing up. “That was great stuff, man. You’re actually a pretty good actor for being on a reality show.” 

Jeremy didn’t tell him he wasn’t acting. 

-

Looking out one of the windows, Jeremy was mesmerized by the rolling of the waves. It had been part of his original plan to waste some time by trying to learn to surf, so having an actual surfer as part of the cast was pretty convenient. The problem was that he hadn’t talked to Chloe much yet and he wasn’t even sure if she’d be willing to teach him. She was outside on the patio relaxing in the hot tub with Brooke. There were no cameras on them, so he assumed they weren’t busy with anything too important. 

He walked outside and stood near the jacuzzi, making them both stop talking to look up at him. “Hey, Chloe,” he started. “Um, so, I was wondering if you’d be up for teaching me how to surf?” he asked nervously, hands in his pockets. “You don’t have to, just thought it’d be fun to pass the time.” 

“Sure, I was about to go out soon, anyway,” she said, climbing out of the water. That was much easier than Jeremy expected. “Do you have a wetsuit?”

“A what?” he asked. 

“You know, like the things you see people wearing when they surf that cover their whole body,” she explained, but it still wasn’t ringing a bell. “You know what, just wear swim trunks. They might fall down, though.” That was a risk Jeremy was willing to take for a chance to get away from the drama of the house for a little while. “They have some surfboards stored down in that shed behind the house. I’m gonna go get my wetsuit on and I’ll be down in a few.”

She wrapped a towel around herself and went back inside, leaving Jeremy alone with Brooke. She was pale in the face, spacing out, staring at nothing in particular. “You okay there, Brooke?” he asked cautiously. 

“No,” she answered simply, and Jeremy wondered briefly if he was supposed to call for help. “I just...I just don’t know if I’m going to be able to handle seeing Chloe in a wetsuit. She’s going to look  _ so hot.”  _

“I think I’m going to head down to that shed she was talking about.” 

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” 

He walked down the staircase that led off the balcony and walked through the sand to the shed. He had seen it before and wondered what was inside, and just as Chloe had promised, he opened up the old creaky door to see a few surfboards. There was one that looked brand new, all shiny, and he assumed that was Chloe’s board that she had brought along. The one that stuck out to him was black with blue and yellow stripes. He patiently waited for Chloe to return, looking around at what else was in the shed. Some pool noodles, an inflatable raft, umbrellas, and sand buckets. He’d have to remember this stuff was in there. 

“I’m ready,” he heard a voice say from the door. And Brooke was right, Chloe did look really good. The wetsuit was tight, hugging her form. “Are you going to keep staring or do you want to to know how to surf?” 

“Sorry,” Jeremy mumbled. He pointed out the surfboard he liked. “Can I use this one?” 

“I don’t give a shit, just grab it and let’s go,” Chloe said. She picked up the newer looking one Jeremy had noticed before and carried it outside. Jeremy followed her, struggling to walk and carry the surfboard at the same time. She made it seem so effortless. “Okay, first, we’re just going to practice catching the waves at the right time, so no standing up yet,” she said. 

Jeremy nodded and followed her lead, stepping into the water and draping himself over the board so he could paddle out farther in the water. It wasn’t too cold, but the waves were pretty big and he was still concerned about the risk of sharks. “So...sharks,” Jeremy said. 

“Yeah…?” Chloe said. “Don’t be scared, if one bites you it’ll probably let go because we don’t taste good.” 

“Probably?” Jeremy repeated. “Well, that makes me feel great.” 

Chloe sighed and stopped paddling. “Alright. Here is fine,” she said, sliding off of the board. Jeremy did the same, surprised to find that he could actually stand up. “Now when a big enough wave comes, you wanna kick off and lay flat on the board so the wave pushes you. You have to do it at the right time, though.” She looked out at the waves until one caught her eye. “Here, I’ll show you.” 

She waited until the wave was just barely starting to break, and she slid onto the board and started kicking. It washed over her, and for a second Jeremy thought for sure she was drowning under the water, but then she re-appeared at the shoreline, victorious. It looked easy enough, so Jeremy tried it out for himself. Except he must have had bad timing and the wave didn’t push him forward at all, and he just ended up coming up out of the wave gasping for air and half choking on water. 

“You dumbass,” Chloe laughed. “You need to go sooner.”

So Jeremy kept trying, and each time, he got pushed forward a little more. He started to figure out when it was time to push off of the ground, with a lot of guidance from Chloe. And when he finally caught a wave that propelled him all the way to the sure, he was exhausted from the swimming back and forth and the fighting with the waves. 

They were both lying on their stomachs on their boards, halfway out into the Pacific, just letting the waves carry them. Jeremy had been pretty skeptical about Chloe at first, but she turned out to be kind of hilarious, even if Jeremy was at expense of most of her jokes. This was their first time being alone together, but something about her made Jeremy feel like she could be trusted. “Hey, so I know I don’t know you that well, but there’s something I really need to get off my chest. Away from the cameras and everything.” 

“Go on,” she encouraged.

“You know Michael, right?” 

“Yeah, you keep obviously flirting with him and we’re all supposed to pretend that we don’t notice.” 

“Well,” Jeremy started with a sigh. “I’m just...I’m feeling like maybe all of the feelings I’m feeling aren’t just for the show. I actually really like him.”

“Okay, cool. That’ll just make the show more realistic,” she shrugged. 

“Right, but I’m like ninety-nine percent sure all of the feelings he’s feeling are just part of the act. And I always thought I was straight, so I just don’t know what to do now.” 

“You should just talk to him,” she said. “And I know that’s bad advice, that’s what everyone says. But just find some time when we aren’t filming and tell him what you just told me. It helps. Trust me, I would know.” 

Jeremy glances up at her, head cocked slightly to one side. “What do you mean?”

She took a deep breath. “I felt the same way about Brooke. I  _ actually  _ liked her after getting to know her the first few days, so I told her. And she said she feels the same way. The problem is that Cara wants me to end up with Jake and Brooke to end up with Rich, so it’s hard to hide everything from the cameras when it feels like they’re always there. We’re still figuring it out.” 

He felt so different around Michael, comfortable yet nervous at the same time. And for a while, he shrugged it off, thinking it was just the same kind of anxiety he felt whenever he met any new person. Except the butterflies in his stomach didn’t go away. “Okay. Thanks. I think I’ll try to talk to him.” 

Someone in the house must have spotted Chloe and Jeremy in the water because pretty soon, there was a crowd of people heading down to the beach carrying their towels and wearing swimsuits. Chloe waved at them and they started swimming back to greet everyone. 

Jeremy and Christine shared a towel and a glass of lemonade, and while Jeremy couldn’t stop looking at Michael, Christine couldn’t stop staring at Jeremy. 

-

Jeremy waited until a day that they weren’t filming at all. It was sort of a free day, to go around in the city or to the beach and do whatever you wanted. It was getting late, and everyone was about to head up to some really popular bar that was in the area. “You coming?” Christine asked, passing him on the staircase as she raced downstairs. She was wearing one of her many dresses, paired with flashy earrings. 

“Bars aren’t really my thing,” he said with a shrug. And thank God bars weren’t really Michael’s thing either. It was about the only chance they had to be alone. 

“They’re not my thing either. I’m going to dance,” Christine said. “It’ll be fun, you should come.” 

“Thanks, but I’m just going to chill out here, I think. I guess me and Michael will have the whole house to ourselves.” Christine looked at him in shock. “Oh, fuck, no. That’s not...that sounded really bad. We are  _ not  _ going to have sex, I swear.” She nodded slowly and turned to leave, following everyone else outside. “Ha-have fun!” he called after them, but no one responded. 

Michael came bouncing downstairs, headphones around his neck. “Looks like we have the whole house to ourselves,” he said, before realizing what that sounded like. “Wait, shit, that’s not what it sounds like.”

“I know, I know,” Jeremy said, laughing to himself. “But, um, there’s something I actually wanted to talk to you about while we’re alone.” He could feel his hands shaking at just the thought of saying this out loud. 

“What is it?

“Alright, so, um,” Jeremy stumbled over his words. His tongue kept getting all tied up and he couldn’t figure out how to say anything. “I think...I think I might actually like you? As in, not just for the show. I think I actually like you. Which is weird, because I always thought I was straight, but now I’m...I’m not so sure,” he rambled. Michael wasn’t saying anything and Jeremy was getting dizzy. He needed to keep talking to fill in the awkward silence. “I know we like...don’t know each other  _ that  _ well. But ever since we met on the plane, I’ve just been feeling  _ something  _ and I didn’t know what it was or why but...Michael? Please say something.” 

“I’m sorry,” he said, and Jeremy felt his stomach sink to his feet. “I need to just...think about everything, okay? I just need to think.”

Before Jeremy could respond, Michael was already in his and Jenna’s room, shutting the door and locking it behind him. Jeremy really fucked that one up. 

He sank to the floor outside of his room, back to the door and knees to his chest. He didn’t know that Michael was in the same position on the other side of the door, and if the door was removed, their backs would be touching. 

**Author's Note:**

> side note: for some dumbass reason i started writing in past tense halfway through without realizing it, so i had to go back and change every verb. please kill me


End file.
